Arabic version: نادي تراكتور يتوجه إلى السعودية لمباراة تصفيات دوري أبطال آسيا
Iranian club Tractor FC is set to travel to Saudi Arabia for a playoff against Shabab Al-Ahli of Dubai for a place in the Asian Champions League Elite quarterfinals against Buriram United of Thailand. This development follows the draw held by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Wednesday.
According to Al Jazeera, the AFC also announced that the western zone playoffs, which had been postponed because of the war in the Middle East, are now rescheduled for April 13-14 in Jeddah.
Jeddah is also slated to host the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final of the tournament from April 16 to 25. Organizers are hopeful for a peaceful environment to facilitate these matches. AFC general secretary Windsor John expressed optimism, stating, “We all want to play matches as soon as possible. So, hopefully we’re able to finish fixtures in April as we have planned.”
The participating clubs have been “quite supportive of the measures we’ve put in place to ensure that we only play when things have calmed down”. In other matchups, Japan’s Vissel Kobe will face the winner of the playoff between four-time champions Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Al-Sadd of the United Arab Emirates. Defending champions Al-Ahli Saudi will compete against Al-Duhail of Qatar, while Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad are set to take on Al-Wahda, with the winners advancing to face respective opponents in the quarterfinals.
Additionally, the AFC Champions League Two and AFC Challenge League quarterfinals were also postponed due to the US-Israel war on Iran, now rescheduled for April 19 and 22 at yet-to-be-announced central venues. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Saudi club Al-Nassr is among the teams involved in the Asian Champions League Two competition.
